About: Killing of Joseph Erin Hamley

On March 7, 2006, Joseph Erin Hamley (February 3, 1985 – March 7, 2006), an unarmed man, was fatally shot by Arkansas State Trooper Larry P. Norman of West Fork, Arkansas. At 7 a.m. on March 7, 2006, Hamley, who had cerebral palsy, was walking alone on U.S. Route 412, just outside the community of Tontitown along the Benton-Washington county line when several Washington County deputies surrounded him. Four minutes later, before being identified, and while lying on the ground, a shotgun slug fired by Norman, an Arkansas State Trooper breaking police protocol and procedure killed Hamley. The fatal shooting was recorded from multiple vantage points on dashboard cameras of the various police cruisers present. Norman was indicted on and pled guilty to negligent homicide.